


The Wonderful Adventure of the Misplaced Riddle

by Ineednoroses



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Good Tom Riddle, Harry Potter is Bad at Feelings, I'm Bad At Tagging, Like there's magic but it exists in an AU, M/M, Multi, Non-binary Death, Out of Character Tom Riddle, Prophecy, Redemption, Sane Tom Riddle, Slow Burn, Tom Riddle is Confused, Tom Riddle is Not Voldemort, Tom Riddle the PA, Tom is a Sweetheart, Tom just trying to get by, Transmigration, Young Tom Riddle, kind of?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23667307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ineednoroses/pseuds/Ineednoroses
Summary: The life of an ordinary Tom Riddle is disrupted when he finds himself transported to a world in which he is the villain, where he needs to fix the mistakes of another Riddle.(This world will not be the one from Harry Potter, it will have the characters and magic, and be inspired from the series but this villain Riddle is not Lord Voldermort we know)Loosely inspired by Scum Villain Self Saving System. VERY Loosely, no knowledge of this book is necessary for this fic.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40
Collections: Reincarnation and Transmigration





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My editor is Grammarly, so not flawless, please let me know about any mistakes you spot. Sorry to the person I accidentally deleted the comment asking if I was going to write more, yes I am going to write more chapters soon.

All he wanted was to live an ordinary existence, he had no big ‘dreams. His hopes for blissful mediocrity, however, would become shattered one ordinary Wednesday. It all started when Tom Riddle was calmly walking back from his boring office job late at night, a bland and uneventful job which mostly consisted of him fetching coffee for those too important to get their own. His head was quiet, some might say relatively empty, maybe a bit vacant. Coming to a stop at a road crossing, he patiently waited for the light to turn green. Across the road from him was a large bird comfortably positioned on top of a lamppost. He wasn’t sure exactly what this bird was in the dark, but it looked like a crow. Unconsciously, he found himself taking a step forward, compelled as if by some great power, mesmerised by a flash of red in the bird’s eyes. In the back of his mind, a voice was screaming at him to stop, and as he took another step, he could hear a sound. A car horn and the sound of a large vehicle getting closer and close.

Then there was nothing, no pain, no fear, just pure nothingness. And so, the life of the ordinary and forgettable Tom Riddle would end in a blur in a moment. A sudden step into the road, without attention to his surroundings, is where the life of a different person would begin. As awareness began to return to Tom, so a feeling of utter confusion enveloped his mind. Opening his eyes, Tom found himself sitting on a bench, seemingly made of glass. Looking down at his hands, he turned them over and inspected them, they were whole and unharmed. But how? Had he somehow survived whatever collision occurred? But if so, why was there no pain, and why was he uninjured? More pressingly, where was he? All he could see was white, white walls, a white floor, ongoing and unbroken in emptiness as far as the eye could see. Then all of a sudden, a creature, as terrifying as a demon from hell, dark and twisted, with a terrifying stretched mouth like a grin and glinting red eyes.

‘I am death’ it spoke, and its voice although flat and calm it was somehow inherently inhumane in tone ‘ And you are just one Tom Riddle among many from differing worlds. In this world, you are simply Tom, ordinary, mundane, mortal. And I have a job for you.’

Tom responded, ‘Okay.’

Death spoke again ‘Now you may not be able to compreh- wait! What do you mean okay?’. Looking at this little human closer, they could see that it was repeatedly pinching the skin on its wrist. Death found this behaviour to be infinitely confounding, a feeling they had not often experienced as an immortal being, unbound by the limits of human knowledge.

‘I am attempting to wake myself’ he stated, and then pouted ‘but clearly, I can’t wake up’.

Never had Death been left so utterly speechless, for the most ordinary Tom Riddle Death could find in the multiverse, he was astoundingly weird.  
‘Alright’, Death muttered to himself, ‘I suppose I’ll just skip this bit until later’.

Then Tom’s vision faded, and he found himself lying on a soft, lavishly comfortable surface.

And so, Tom Riddle was reborn into the life of one Lord Voldemort, without any consideration for his consent to a life as an immortal villain.

~  
Waking was a relief for Tom, as he opened his eyes he sighed in relief at the end of his weird dream. To first dream of dying and the being transported to a white box for a chat with Death, he really needed to lay off the overtime at work, clearly, the stress was getting to him.

Unfortunately for this newly reborn Tom Marvolo Riddle, however, this was not the case.

His first realisation was that this was not his bed, it was far too comfortable to be his small mattress with springs that would dig into the back. Slowly and nervously Tom rolled from the bed to his feet, turning to view this bed.

It was grand and opulent, fit for a king, draped in green and adorned with silver fabrics. This was not his bed. The whole room reflected the same level of opulence, breathtaking in the design. Moving slowly around the room, he stopped in front of a large mirror and stared into an unfamiliar face. This was not the face of ordinary office worker Tom but of a film star, or perhaps a model.

It was clear to Tom in that precise moment that this was not his world, not his face and not his life. His eyes watered at the mirror as the realisation of the impossible situation he had found himself in dawned on him.

Falling back to the bed, he lay there for a moment, until he became frightened by the abrupt feeling of cold scales wrapping languidly around his arm.  
Slowly and cautiously Tom looked down at his arm only to see a large, python looking, emerald green snake with ruby red eyes. Body trembling from fright, Tom lay paralysed until the snake hissed at him. ‘We meet again Tom.’ Tom looked up and saw in the eyes of the snake, the outline of a bird on a lamppost, and the figure of Death itself.

This voice was instantly familiar to him as the dark figure of Death he had met in the white box after his death. It spoke again, ‘In this world, you may refer to me as Nagini, young one. I will tell you what you need to know.’


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death fills in some plot holes for young Tom. Not sure how to tag this, but Tom makes some potentially insensitive references regarding mental health during this chapter, nothing intense, just a little insensitive.

The very idea of a being embodying Death itself speaking to ordinary Tom was absurd, and whilst Tom was willing to accept that all that happened was far too vivid to be a dream, he had come to another conclusion.

He had gone completely mad. Of course! This was the only possible explanation; Tom had descended into some form of lunacy as a result of work-related stress. This would make perfect sense. Of course, he hadn’t died, met Death, been reborn, and had a snake (also Death) talk to him in plain English. He had always felt that old Mr Dumbledore, the man responsible for his many thrilling daily coffee runs, had been attempting to push him into losing his mind.

Closing his eyes briefly, Tom thought, at least this is a break from his Monday night bingo competitions with his elderly neighbour Delores. If he had to experience one more evening trapped in a flat so terrifyingly and ridiculously pink with a woman of similar ridiculousness and fear-inducement, he would have lost all his marbles anyway. This was fine. Inevitable even.

Opening his eyes to face Death, Tom thought, you know what this nightmare could be worse. For now, he thought, he would simply go along with these hallucinations until his mind recovered itself. Excellent, plan sorted, he looked at Nagini, or Death, in the eye and spoke ‘Tell me, Nagini, why am I here?’

‘You have been brought here, to this world, for a singular purpose. You must change your fate in this world. This world is drastically different, in this world Tom Marvolo Riddle was destined to become a villain of unparalleled evil.

‘However, when this Tom was to be vanquished by a great hero, unknown to all, this would have terrible cosmic consequences. With his death, so his side were incited to create great chaos and destruction in this world. Something that inevitably ended with what was essentially the end of this world.

‘I, Death, need to prevent this from occurring, in order to prevent the balance of this world from tipping too far in my favour. As Death, I must never interfere too closely, and as such, I needed to induct a human to prevent the disaster that will befall this world.

‘This world must be saved, or all balance will be lost. You are the key to this Tom; you are exactly what this world needs for its salvation. To assist you in this, I have transferred your consciousness to this Tom Riddle, at a key moment in this world, when this Tom Riddle was close to welcoming Death.

‘I will help you along on this mission in the form of Nagini, a loyal familiar to the Tom Riddle of this world. However, in this mission, you have no choice. You're here to stay Tom, and as such your fate is tied to the fate of this world. I know however that I did not take from you from a life well-lived or a fulfilling life. Whilst I apologise for what I have done, know that if you succeed in this world you can find all that you were missing in your first life.’

Well, Tom thought, Death’s reasoning of balance for saving this world was suspicious as hell. And a bit recycled, Thanos anyone? Not that any of this was even real. But still, just on principle, Tom was disappointed with Death’s shoddy explanation, his own subconscious should at least try to be a little more convincing.

‘Okay’, Tom spoke, ‘Whilst I am fully aware that all of this is some kind of hallucination brought upon by the stresses of slaving under a capitalistic system, I’ll go along with this for now. Why exactly am I key to anything? How can I help you? And more importantly, if this is real, why would I help you?’

The ruby eyes of Nagini stared intently at him as if attempting to see into his soul.

Then Nagini replied, ‘You are key to all of this precisely because your existence in that other world had such little impact that you were the only version of yourself, with the same soul, that could be transported here in order to change the fate of this world. You will help me by following my commands in order to change small events, and more importantly in being yourself, you will change everything and everyone around you. And you will help me, and I know that you will, out of self-preservation. I have moved you here for good, and your life is in jeopardy here, so it will be imperative for you to listen to me in order to survive. And I can promise you this, if you follow me, the line of your life here will ultimately be towards a fate of joy, surrounded by everything you now lack.’

Pondering this, Tom nodded, it did seem that he had no real choice or power here. Whilst a part of him screamed in rage at having been snatched from his home, a greater part of him realised that he had been taken from an empty life. Perhaps here, he could find a life and fate greater than that of simple, ordinary Tom Riddle.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom meets a new person and learns more about the Tom Riddle of this other world.

After their conversation, Death’s massive and intimidating snake form shrunk to become much smaller. Despite himself, Tom couldn’t help but internally coo at this suddenly quite cute looking baby python that had wrapped themself around his forearm, resting their little head gently on his arm, and promptly falling asleep. The feeling of Death’s cool body wrapped around his arm, however, brought home the possibility that he wasn’t simply hallucinating. After all, Tom was too lacking in imagination to be able to vividly feel sensations such as touch, surely? Dismissing this train of thought, Tom decided to move gently to properly lie down on the opulent bed in the room, careful not to disturb his small snake companion. Letting his eyes drift closed, Tom let a wave of sleep take him under.

‘Young Master Riddle?’. A light and lilting voice broke through his sleep.

‘Young Master Riddle?’ The voice continued.

Scrunching his face Tom opened his eyes blearily to see who would be addressing him as such. In front of the grand door, to the room he was occupying, stood a dignified and beautiful woman with long flowing dark hair, dressed in an unusual outfit. The woman was clothed in what he could only assume were robes, simple in style in a cold grey. Tom frowned in faint confusion, for he himself was wearing what looked like a loose white top and long matching trousers, simple in style. And considering that the woman had addressed him as young master, his own simple attire cofounded him. Perhaps this was the sleepwear that people here wore?

‘My God! Young Master, let me assist you!’ Looking concerned and slightly emotional the woman rushed towards him from the door. ‘How are you _walking_ at all? Please let me help!’

Then a voice spoke, as if directly into his mind, in the unmistakable voice of Death, _‘She is your closest confidant, she knows this world’s Tom too well to be fooled by any attempts to act as him. Now, the moment I transported you to is when he was struck by a terrible fever. The best thing you can do is feign amnesia, to mimic the behaviour of this Tom is much above your skill level’_

Feeling vaguely insulted and unsettled from the sound of someone else’s voice in his brain Tom closed his eyes to gather himself. _Gather yourself,_ Tom sternly told himself. Moving as if to stand, with the woman hovering next to him, Tom spoke, ‘Who are you exactly?’

‘Young master?’ She replied, forehead creased in obvious concern and confusion.

‘Have we met before?’ he continued, ‘I- I’m sorry but… have we met before? Who exactly are you?’

‘Are you feeling alright?’ she asked, reaching out gently to feel his forehead. ‘Hmm, your fever has broken at least. What’s the last thing you remember Young Master?’

‘I-‘, he paused, considering how to believably frame this, ‘I- I’m afraid I can’t remember exactly where I am or even who I am?’ he closed his eyes, desperately hoping she would buy it.

_ Hang on _ , Tom thought to himself, _why exactly am I going along with Death’s plan anyway?_

Just as he was doubting the advice provided by Death, the woman responded.

‘Young Master! I have heard before of people losing memories as a result of a high fever, but to not be able to remember yourself at all?’ As the woman spoke, her voice became thick with emotion.

‘Oh, you poor thing!’ She exclaimed, eyes suspiciously misty, ‘I’ll go call for the doctor!’

At that, she moved with great speed from the room, obviously greatly disturbed.

‘What exactly about the Tom of this world inspired such devotion?’ he wondered aloud.

Death spoke again into his mind, ‘ _I will speak like this from now on, I initially spoke aloud in order to make you more comfortable, but this will seem far less suspicious than your familiar suddenly being able to talk. And to answer your question, that is Bellatrix Black, and you saved her when no one else did, she owes the you of this world a great debt.’_

‘And how did I save her exactly?’ He asked.

Responding, Death said ‘ _She was to be married off to an evil man, one Rodulphus Lestrange, known to be particularly cruel and sadistic. This may be the only truly kind act that this Tom committed by saving her, he made her his personal servant and exchange she gave him, now you, unquestioning loyalty.’_

‘Do you mean to say- ?’ He quietly asked before Death cut him off.

_ ‘It is exactly as you think, this Bellatrix became one of the primary avengers for your Death in this world, and so, for the end of this world altogether, one of the primary instigators. Whilst you have never encountered Bellatrix in your world, know that she may be our greatest ally, as well as our greatest threat.’  _


End file.
